High yielding stable plant of Rosa damascena, called ‘Ranisahiba’

ABSTRACT

The invention provides a novel half-sib damask rose progeny christened as ‘Ranisahiba’ and characterized by its doubled per se oil content and oil yield, high flower biomass with synchronous flowering and firmly fixed morphophysiological plant-traits.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention is related to a super genotype called ‘Ranisahiba’a variety of demask rose (Rosa damascena var. bifera) developed througha comprehensive scheme of half-sib Progeny selection. The plant is anovel plant in the damask rose land race, long grown in Kannauj areas ofUttar Pradesh, India. The variety ‘Ranisahiba’ readily allows itsvegetative multiplication by stem cuttings, its genotype having allmorpho-physiological traits including doubled oil yielding ability isfirmly fixed after the somatic multiplication so as to give a guaranteefor sustained yield advancement.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The land race of damask rose, which in recent years has beencommercially grown in the Kannauj areas of Uttar Pradesh, India is amajor economic crop utilized for its very costly essential oil (Rs.2.25lakhs per kg) obtained from its freshly harvested flowers bydistillation. However, there is a need for its genetic improvement withrespect to its problems related to poor oil content and oil yield,irregular bearing in flowers and erratic bearing in individual plantsdue to blind shoots and barren plants, which are primarily the result ofa lack of genetic diversity in the vegetatively derived clones. With aview to solving these problems, our research efforts were directed tothe seed progeny selections instead of giving much emphasis on directclonal selections. Extensive efforts were made to achieve eliteout-crossed progeny through controlled half-sib matings in an originallarge population raised from mixed (dissimilar) stem cuttings collectedfrom the perennial rose plantations in farmers' fields of Kannauj areasof India and establish the obtained elite progeny through productivitytrails in contrasting environments of sub tropical plain (Pantnagar) andhill (Purara), India.

OBJECTS

The main object of the invention is to develop a novel rose plant havingwide adaptability and capable of growing in sub-tropical and hillyagroclimatic conditions.

Another object is to provide a rose plant yielding essential oil havinghigh geraniol content coupled with a low concentration of undesirablewax component in the essential oil.

A further object is to develop a novel rose plant having globular canopythat allows equal distribution of sunlight to the flowers, therebyproducing enhanced flower biomass.

Yet another object is to develop a novel rose plant having high floweryield.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Accordingly, the invention provides novel, high essential oil yieldingstable plant of Rosa damascena, called ‘Ranisahiba’ having the followingfirmly fixed new combination of characters, distinct from the knownvarieties/land races of R. damascena:

a. Light green stem, red purple (73D) flowers as classified by The“R.H.S. Color Chart,” published by The Royal Horticultural Society, 80Vincent Square, London SWIP 2PE, 1995, globular canopy allowing equaldistributon of sunlight to the flowers, that enhances flower biomass,

b. High flower yield,

c. Additional economic yield in off-season, and

d. Yielding essential oil containing 30-35% geraniol, 5-7% geranylacetate, 4-5% citronellol, 7-8% PE alcohol and 1-3% linalool content,and wax content of about 6-7.1% .

The plant is described herein in detail with reference to theaccompanying drawings. The said description should not be construed aslimitation on the sphere or scope of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

In the drawings that accompany, FIG. 1 represents a three year old‘Ranisahiba’ plant with profuse bud formations.

FIG. 2 represents red purple (73D) flowers of ‘Ranisahiba’.

FIG. 3 represents an oil sample of ‘Ranisahiba’ (above) and ‘Kannauj’(non-patented) control plant; mark the titled bottle with much light oilnot freezing at room temperature with less wax component compared tomuch viscous of control (‘Kannauj’).

FIG. 4 represents a pollen mother cell showing the chromosome number2n=4x=28 at the diakinesis stage of meiosis in ‘Ranisahiba’.

The new variety ‘Ranisahiba’ with impressive essential oil productivityis an out-come of strategic half-sib progeny selections for thedesirable variant(s) (spontaneous recombinants) of known female plant(s)and unknown male plants(s), clonal multiplication of the desirablevariant(s) and their comparative evaluation for morpho-physiologicalfitnesses leading to the establishment, of the most ideal genotype. Thebreeding history of ‘Ranisahiba’ is schematically shown in Table-1.Large efforts made during 1987-91 at CIMAP, Lucknow, India for achievinghigh ranking out-crossed progeny via the scheme of half-sib matingsThese involved manual emasculation of the selected known female plantsallowed for their natural out crossings with unknown male plants. Theoriginal gene pool of 500 plants were raised from mixed (dissimilar)stem cuttings drawn from perennial rose plantations in differentfarmers' fields of Kannauj areas in Uttar Pradesh, India, and resultedinto the development of six half-sib progenies in 1992. Each of thesesix progenies was subsequently assessed for vegetative multiplicationand morphophysiological characteristics. Among the six sets of half-sibprogenies, one comprising the highest number of individuals (30 plantsagainst 12-20 in the rest 5 sets) in its clone revealed distinctsegregation for an elite variant with robust growth habit, high floweryield, synchronous flowering and much higher per se oil contentpotential (0.08% as against 0.01-0.04% of the rest 5 half-sibs). Thisvariant, initially named as the strain V₁HS-4-18 could be vegetativelymultiplied at large scale and assessed for its productivity againstthree control variety/land races: ‘Noorjahan’ (the non-patented familiarvariety earlier developed by CIMAP), ‘Aligarh’ non patented control and‘Kannauj’ non-patented control in different preliminary/pilot scaleyield trials (PYT and PSTs) at the Institute's field station atPantnagar (a place situated at foot hill area of Uttar Pradesh) andPurara (a valley situated at about 3000 ft ASL at the Bagewar hill ofUttar Pradesh).

The new plant ‘Ranisahiba’ was reproduced asexually from the originalmother plants V1HS-4-18 with the help of hard/semi hard wood stemcuttings (each of 15 cm length), drawn from the latter. The multipliedvegetative progeny (‘Ranisahiba’) derived through somatic (mitotic) celldivision are indistinguishable from the original plant (v1-HS-4-18). Asto the character of the area where the plant (‘Ranisahiba’) has beendeveloped and asexually reproduced, it is situated at the sub-tropicalfoothill areas of northern India. The soil of the experiment site atPantnagar was clay-loam in texture, high in organic carbon (1.30%),medium in available P (176.4 kg/ha) and (198.0 kg/ha) with pH7.2.Because the area is located at a latitude of 29° N, longitude of 79.3° Eand at the altitude of 244 mts above the mean sea level, it enjoys theminimum temperature ranging from 3-8° C. and maxium temperature rangingfrom 17-25° C. during winter months. The night temperature during spring(March-April) averaging 10-20° C. with the daily humidity averaging60-70%, plants do not suffer moisture stress even under the minimumirrigation provision of spring. Indeed the presence of such idealblooming temperature and high humidity leads to high oil synthesis inthe rose flowers.

A point of much interest with this strain is that, besides highlyexceeding the three control genotypes for yield in main flowering season(during March-April), out classed the controls for having the capabilityin generating and additional economic flower and oil yield duringoff-season of autumn months (September-October). FIG. 2 shows theflowers produced by ‘Ranisahiba’. The corresponding result of the yieldtrials are presented in Table-2, 3 and 4. Per hectare flower and oilyields in Ranisahiba are 52.0 q (i.e.40 q+12 q) and 4 kg (i.e. 3.2kg+0.8 kg), respectively at Pantnagar (Table 3). Consistent with theyield result of Pantnagar was the yield result from Purara valley, thecorresponding figures for flower and oil yield at the Purara hillsituation being 53.50 q (i.e. 41 q+12.50 q) and 4.22 kg (i.e. 3.31kg+0.91 kg) (Table 4). It was evident that the new variety ‘Ranisahiba’has wide adaptation and can grow almost equally profitably atsub-tropical and hilly agroclimatic situtation. The comparativeperformance of ‘Ranisahiba’ with other varieties is shown in Table 5.

Essential oil samples, prepared from ‘Ranisahiba’, mentioned threecontrol genotypes and the familiar damask rosa of Bulgaria grown andmaintained by us in Purara valley, were examined by gas liquidchromatography (GLC). The oil quality of ‘Ranisahiba’, though not at parwith that of ‘Noorjahan’ (earlier variety developed through directclonal selection in the land race of ‘Aligarh’ (non-patented), UttarPradesh), is much superior over the oil of Bulgarian rose. The geraniolin ‘Ranisahiba’ is 31% as against 18% of the Bulgarian rose. It was alsoworthwhile to record that the undersirable oil component (C-19) occursin only very small concentration in ‘Ranisahiba’ (6.4% against 14.5% ofthe Bulgarian rose.) Oil of ‘Ranisahiba’, owning to its less waxcomponent does not freeze in room temperature (20° C.) in winter (FIG. 3represents an oil sample from ‘Ranisahiba’).

‘Ranisahiba’ was further examined for its detailed cytochemo-taxonomicalspecificies. The corresponding results are given below:

TABLE 1  1. Genus Rosa  2. Species damascena var. bifera  3. FamilyRosaceae  4. Common name Damask rose (Kannauj race)  5. Plant height101.10 ± 3.0 cm  6. Growth habit Erect, with synchronous branchinggiving a globular shape to canopy; canopy diameter or growth spread of athree-year old is about 0.80- 0.90 m as compared to 0.60-0.70 m of‘Noorjahan’.  7. Stem Round with 2.5-3.0 cm girth, prickly with down-ward pointing thorns color of immature thorns: grey orange (174D) versus174C of ‘Noorjahan’; color of mature thorns: grey orange (174C) versus174B of ‘Noorjahan’), solid, soft texture, woody (old wood color:greenish white (157B) against greeenish white (157A) of ‘Noorjahan’ andhaving a hardy texture), cylindrical, green (137B) against yellow green(147B) of the variety ‘Noorjahan’ (FIG. 2)  8. Leaf Alternate, compound,pinnate, petiolate, stipulate (stipules adnate to the petiole);leaflets, 5-7 in number, elliptical acute, unicostate, reticulatevenation; leaflet length and width: 5.5 cm and 3.2 cm, respectively asagainst 5.2 cm and 3.3 cm of the variety ‘Noorjahan’; Number of dents atthe two leaf margins: 54 (for terminal leaflet). 32 (for each of themiddle leaflets) and 16 (for the basal leaflet) as against 44, 26 and 22of ‘Noorjahan’; Leaf color, green (139A) on the upper and yellow green(147B) on the lower surface as opposed to the green (137B) and similaryellow green (147B) of ‘Noorjahan’; Leaf surface smooth waxy againsttough, glossy, and glabrous (non- hairy) versus fragile, rough,wrinkled, and hairy (minute hairs) of ‘Noorjahan’.  9. InflorescenceCymose, flowers in clusters (8-10 unicostate, flower weight 2.5 to 3.0gm, versus 4-6 flowers in each cluster of ‘Noorjahan’ and a flowerweight of 2.5 to 3 gm; lastingness of bloom (flower) is 2-3 days andpersistence of bloom (flower) is 3-4 days; flower fragrance is uniquelysweet due to high presence of geraniol component in the essential oil.Flower 5.2-5.5 cm, versus 5.5 to 6 cm of ‘Noorjahan’; diameter flowerbud having a conical shape. Calyx Five sepals of green (139C) color(versus 138C of ‘Noorjahan’), tough and bold texture, gamosepalous,narrowly lanceolate, calyx-tube persistent, globose ovoid, calyx length1.1 cm and width 0.5 cm as opposed to 2.3 cm and 0.7 cm of ‘Noorjahan’.Corolla Comprising 50-70 petals versus 50-55 petals of ‘Noorjahan’;petal length 3.2-3.6 cm, petal width 2.2-2.5 cm against 2.3-3.8 cm and2.4-2.8 cm of ‘Noorjahan’; petal color red purple (73A) with red purple(73D) petal base versus a red purple (62C) petal with white petal baseof ‘Noorjahan’; petal texture thin, tough, and smooth, flower bud redpurple (67B) versus 73B of ‘Noorjahan’. Stamen 78-90 in number versus70-80 of ‘Noorjahan’, anthers grey red (181C) versus yellow orange (22A)of ‘Noorjahan’, inserted on the flower disk; anther length 1.5-2.0 mmversus 1.0-1.5 mm of ‘Noorjahan’; Filament yellow orange (22B) versusyellow (11C) of ‘Noorjahan’; filament length 5.0-5.5 mm versus 4.0-5.0mm of ‘Noorjahan’; pistils of numerous number. Carpels Many carpels,apocarpous (found in the base of the calyx-tube), Stigma thickenedPollen Color orange red (32D) versus yellowish orange (81D) of‘Noorjahan’. Style Length of 6.0-7.0 mm versus 5.0-6.0 of ‘Noorjahan’.10. Fruit Pome (i.e., a small indehiscent many seeded fruit), grey red(181C), fleshy, elongated, avoid; Fruit originating from the cup-likereceptacle bearing the sepals, petals and stamens its rim and enclosingthe carpels and measuring 0.9 cm × 1.2 cm with fruit index (w/l) 1.3versus 1.2 cm × 0.7 cm and fruit index 0.58 of ‘Noorjahan’; the lengthof receptacle is 10.0-11.0 as in ‘Noorjahan’; receptacle texture thickand bold with inner soft tissues. 11. Oil content in 0.8% as against0.04% of the variety the fresh flower ‘Noorjahan’ and 0.02% of Bulgarianrose. 12. Oil quality Geraniol 30.0-35.0% (against 18.20 of Bulgarianrose) content Geranyl 5.4-7.0% (against 1.6% of Bulgarian rose) acetatecitronellol 4.6-5.0% (against 33.3% of Bulgarian rose) PE alcohol7.0-8.0% (against 1.4% of Bulgarian rose) Linalool 1.1-2.5% (against2.2% of Bulgarian rose) Wax compo- 6.0-7.1% (against 14.5% of Bulgarianrose) nent (C-19)

The genotype ‘Ranisahiba’ is a perennial shrubs with upright pricklyshoots. The synchronous branching of shoots gives a globular canopy ofthe plant. The flowers bloom largely synchronously leading to brevity inflower picking. The chromosome number is 2n=4x=28 (tetraploid) FIG. 4represents a pollen cell of ‘Ranisahiba’ showing chromosome number is2n=4x=28 at diakinesis stage.

Stability and Plant Hardness

‘Ranisahiba’ was assessed for its stability in yield for five years(1994-99) in two contrasting places: Pantnagar (a sub-tropical plain)and Purara (a tempercate hill). The obtained results revealed its highstability and adaptation over the environments. As ‘Ranisahiba’ isvegetatively propagated by stem cuttings, its morpho-physiologicaltraits including oil yield are firmly fixed. (Further details given inTable -1).

The plant of the invention ‘Ranisahiba’ is frost sensitive revealingwithering of the shoot tips in its unpruned plants furing chillingwinter (0-5° C.) of December and January, especially in the places athigher altitudes (>500 m). To overcome the environmental hostility ofthe chilling winter, the plant ‘Ranisahiba’ like the others needs deeppruning during first week of December. The mature plant parts afterpruning during first week of December are resistant to frosting andstart sprouting during mid-January after a brief period of remainingdormant at both hill and foot hill situations. However, it is worthwhileto mention that sprouting of shoots as well as flower bud formation in‘Ranisahib’ are early (15 days and 20 days earlier respectively) ascompared to the normal cultivars. The flower buds in profuse number areobserved in ‘Ranisahiba’ at the foot hill area during first week ofMarch as against that during last week of March in ‘Noorjahan’ andothers. The early sprouting behavior in articular is a majorphysiological ‘marker’ to identify some winter hardiness in the newgenotype ‘Ranisahiba’.

As evident from the morpho-physiology the plant of ‘Ranisahiba’ isdistinct from its mother ‘Kannauj’ control as well as the other twocontrols: the variety ‘Noorjahan’ and ‘Aligarh’ land race. The mentionedglobular plant canopy is the major morphological “marker” foridentifying ‘Ranisahiba’ from known varieties/land races. Globularcanopy allows equal distribution of sunlight to the flowers, leading toenhanced flower biomass. The novelty of the invention in that‘Ranisahiba’, besides being superior to the existing rose varieties andland races for flower yield, distinctly out-classes all existing rosegenotypes/land races by having high oil content and oil yield and highgeraniol content coupled with least concentration of undesirable waxcomponent in the essential oil.

TABLE 2 Comparative performances of the strain: Ranisahiba and othervariety/land races of damask rose in PYT (1994-95) at Field station,Pantnagar (Plot Size: 5 m × 2 m) Performance in ‘Noorjahan’ ‘Aligarh’(Control) (Control) Plant traits MS OS MS OS Plant height (cm) 101.10 —110.60 — Stem girth (cm) 2.20 — 2.10 — No. of Primary branches 6.60 —7.00 — No. of flowers/plant 148.12 — 137.5 — No. of flowers/cluster 8.10— 7.20 — Single flower Weight (g) 2.40 — 2.00 — Flower yield/plot/10 m²(kg) 3.60 — 2.75 — Flower yield/ha (q) 35.92 — 27.35 — Oil content (%)0.04 — 0.02 — Oil yield/ha (kg) 1.42 — 0.54 — ‘Kannauj’ (Control)‘Ranisahiba’ Plant traits MS OS MS OS Plant height (cm) 130.50 132.10104.5 150.8 Stem girth (cm) 2.26 1.87 2.15 2.80 No. of Primary branches7.40 2.90 8.70 5.00 No. of flowers/plant 135.40 7.50 195.40 44.10 No. offlowers/cluster 7.10 1.60 9.12 4.50 Single flower Weight (g) 2.00 2.402.00 2.40 Flower yield/plot/10 m² (kg) 2.67 0.25 4.10 1.18 Floweryield/ha (q) 26.65 2.05 39.96 11.72 Oil content (%) 0.02 0.02 0.08 0.07Oil yield/ha (kg) 0.50 0.038 3.17 0.80 MS = Main season (March-April) OS= Off season (Sept.-Oct.)

TABLE 3 Comparative performances of the strain: Ranisahiba and othervariety/land races of damask rose in PYT (1994-95) at Field station,Pantnagar (Plot Size: 5 m × 2 m) Performance in ‘Noorjahan’ (Control)‘Aligarh’ Plant traits MS OS MS OS Plant height (cm) 101.10 — 110.60 —Stem girth (cm) 2.20 — 2.10 — No. of Primary branches 6.60 — 7.00 — No.of flowers/plant 148.12 — 137.5 — No. of flowers/cluster 8.10 — 7.20 —Single flower Weight (g) 2.40 — 2.00 — Flower yield/plot/10 m² 3.60 —2.75 — (kg) Flower yield/ha (q) 35.92 — 27.35 — Oil content (%) 0.04 —0.02 — Oil yield/ha (kg) 1.42 — 0.54 — ‘Kannauj’ C.D. (Control)‘Ranisahiba’ (5%) Plant traits MS OS MS OS for MS Plant height (cm)130.50 132.10 104.5 150.8 7.00 Stem girth (cm) 2.26 1.87 2.15 2.80 (NS)No. of Primary branches 7.40 2.90 8.70 5.00 0.68 No. of flowers/plant135.40 7.50 195.40 44.10 8.44 No. of flowers/cluster 7.10 1.60 9.12 4.500.29 Single flower Weight (g) 2.00 2.40 2.00 2.40 0.22 Floweryield/plot/10 2.67 0.25 4.10 1.18 0.23 m² (kg) Flower yield/ha (q) 26.652.05 39.96 11.72 2.75 Oil content (%) 0.02 0.02 0.08 0.07 0.0041 Oilyield/ha (kg) 0.50 0.038 3.17 0.80 0.097 MS = Main season (March-April)OS = Off season (Sept.-Oct.)

TABLE 4 Comparative performances of the strain: Ranisahiba and othervariety/land races of damask rose in PST (1998-99) at Field station,Purura (Plot Size: 10 m × 5 m) Performance in ‘Noorjahan’ ‘Aligarh’(Control) (Control) Plant traits MS OS MS OS Plant height (cm) 101.20 —109.50 — Stem girth (cm) 2.24 — 2.10 — No. of Primary branches 7.20 —7.30 — No. of flowers/plant 153.42 — 142.5 — No. of flowers/cluster 8.70— 8.10 — Single flower Weight (g) 2.52 — 2.00 — *Flower yield plot (kg)/19.25 — 15.50 — 50 m² Flower yield/ha (q) 38.10 — 30.60 — Oil content(%) 0.04 — 0.02 — Oil yield/ha (kg) 1.54 — 0.63 — ‘Kannauj’ (Control)‘Ranisahiba’ C.D. Plant traits MS OS MS OS (5%) Plant height (cm) 132.20133.10 103.40 151.60 6.27 Stem girth (cm) 2.28 1.92 2.15 2.80 0.12 No.of Primary branches 7.50 3.00 8.90 5.10 0.26 No. of flowers/plant 140.509.20 205.40 50.70 7.57 No. of flowers/cluster 7.63 2.10 9.85 5.30 0.23Single flower Weight (g) 2.10 2.53 2.00 2.54 0.18 *Flower yield plot(kg)/ 14.20 1.15 20.75 6.40 1.71 50 m² Flower yield/ha (q) 28.12 2.1141.00 12.50 1.29 Oil content (%) 0.02 0.018 0.08 0.07 0.0045 Oilyield/ha (kg) 0.55 0.04 3.31 0.91 0.14 MS = Main season (March-April) OS= Off season (Sept.-Oct.)

TABLE 5 Comparative performances of the strain: Ranisahiba and othervariety/land races of damask rose in PST (1998-99) at Field station,Pantnagar (Plot Size: 5 m × 2 m) Performance in ‘Noorjahan’ ‘Aligarh’(Control) (Control) Plant traits MS OS MS OS Plant height (cm) 104.10 —112.60 — Stem girth (cm) 2.25 — 2.12 — No. of Primary branches 7.00 —7.20 — No. of flowers/plant 151.13 — 140.8 — No. of flowers/cluster 8.13— 7.60 — Single flower Weight (g) 2.50 — 2.00 — Flower yield/plot (kg)18.90 — 14.10 — Flower yield/ha (q) 37.78 — 28.16 — Oil content (%) 0.04— 0.02 — Oil yield/ha (kg) 1.51 — 0.56 — Performance in ‘Kannauj’‘Ranisahiba’ C.D. Plant traits MS OS MS OS (5%) Plant height (cm) 134.80135.40 106.50 153.70 6.99 Stem girth (cm) 2.27 1.90 2.20 2.82 (NS) No.of Primary branches 7.50 3.00 8.80 5.00 0.33 No. of flowers/plant 138.408.50 200.30 48.50 9.71 No. of flowers/cluster 7.33 1.80 9.33 5.00 0.34Single flower Weight (g) 2.00 2.50 2.00 2.50 0.12 Flower yield/plot (kg)13.84 1.06 20.01 6.07 4.24 Flower yield/ha (q) 27.67 2.11 40.03 12.133.01 Oil content (%) 0.02 0.02 0.08 0.07 0.0031 Oil yield/ha (kg) 0.040.04 3.21 0.88 0.103 MS = Main season (March-April) OS = Off season(Sept.-Oct.)

We claim:
 1. A novel, high yielding stable plant of Rosa damascena,designated ‘Ranisahiba’ as described and illustrated, and having thefollowing firmly fixed new combination of characteristics, distinct fromthe known varieties/land races of R. damascena: (a) Light green stem,red purple (73D) flowers, globular canopy allowing equal distribution ofsunlight to the flowers, that enhances flower biomass; (b) High floweryield; (c) Additional economic yield off-season; (d) Yielding oilcontaining 30-35% geraniol content, 5-7% geranyl acetate content, 4-5%citronellol, 7-8% PE alcohol and 1-3% linalool content; and (e) Highgeraniol content coupled with wax content of about 6-7.1%.